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Cavendish, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Cavendish, Thomas, 1560–92, English navigator. He commanded a ship in the flotilla under Sir Richard Grenville sent (1585) by Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first colony in Virginia. In 1586, i...

Percy, George

(Encyclopedia)Percy, George, 1580–1631?, English colonial official in Virginia. He sailed to Virginia with the expedition of 1606–7 and was deputy governor (1609–10) after John Smith's return to England and, ...

Betterton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Betterton, Thomas bĕtˈərtən [key], 1635?–1710, English actor and manager. He joined Sir William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in 1661 and became the leading actor of the Re...

Tourneur, Cyril

(Encyclopedia)Tourneur, Cyril tûrˈnər [key], 1575?–1626, English dramatist and poet. Little is known of his life. The Transformed Metamorphosis (1600), an allegorical satire, was his first published work. His ...

Whitelocke, Bulstrode

(Encyclopedia)Whitelocke, Bulstrode bo͝olˈstrōd hwĭtˈlŏk [key], 1605–75, English statesman. A lawyer and member of the Long Parliament, he was head of the committee that managed the prosecution of Thomas We...

Shadwell, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Shadwell, Thomas, 1642?–1692, English dramatist and poet. His plays, written in the tradition of Jonson's comedy of humours, are distinguished for their realistic pictures of London life and for the...

Warton, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Warton, Joseph, 1722–1800, English critic and poet, brother of Thomas Warton. Educated at Winchester and Oxford, he took holy orders in 1744 and served several cures. He spent an unsuccessful tenure...

Gage, Thomas, English general in North America

(Encyclopedia)Gage, Thomas, 1721–87, English general in North America. He came to America (1754) with Gen. Edward Braddock and took part in the ill-fated expedition against Fort Duquesne (1755). Later in the last...

Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley

(Encyclopedia)Raffles, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley, 1781–1826, British East Indian administrator. He was one of the founders of Britain's empire in East Asia. Beginning his career (1795) as a clerk in the British...

Cavalier poets

(Encyclopedia)Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, p...